Sol mates: Rodriguezes spark running tradition

There’s something familiar about the handsome dark-haired boy in the bright orange tank top and running shorts, with a half-smile on his face and his right knee planted on the clay track.

In fact, it almost looks like Nathan Rodriguez.

But this photograph was taken years before Nathan was born. The boy in the photo is Ari Rodriguez, Nathan’s father and a track and cross country standout at Tempe Corona del Sol in the early 1990s.

Ari set a handful of school records in his time at Corona del Sol. Now, 20 years after he graduated, Nathan is a senior in the same program and has already erased a few of his father’s marks, and is looking to cement his own cross country legacy before doing the same with track in the spring.

Nathan Rodriguez didn’t start running seriously until the sixth grade, but once he did, the stories started coming. Nathan would hear how Ari helped lead Corona del Sol to a state title in 1993, how he attended Arizona State on a track scholarship after previously thinking his only option for higher education would be Mesa Community College.

It wasn’t just playful boasting. The only runner in his own family growing up, Ari was determined to mentor Nathan as he developed and use his own experience to help Nathan become a better runner than he ever was.

“Once he decided he wanted to focus on running,” Ari said, “I really tried to take what I learned and relay it to him, so he didn’t make all the same mistakes I made. All the things I’ve learned in my running career, I’ve tried to help Nathan with.”

There’s no doubt it’s paid off. After spending a tumultuous freshman season at Gilbert Williams Field, where Ari and Nathan’s coach often clashed over training methods, Nathan decided to follow his father to Corona del Sol, where Ari landed an assistant coaching job the same year.

“After the situation that happened my freshman year, I really was scared to go anywhere else,” Nathan said. “Being able to go to a school like Corona with the great running history and all the stories, and the fact that he was going to be able to be there and be a coach was huge. I was honestly scared to go anywhere else without his guidance.”

Ari was named the girls head coach prior to this season. As with many programs, Corona del Sol’s boys and girls teams usually practice together, so Ari and Nathan see plenty of each other on campus.

They make sure to make the most of it. Ari and Nathan’s mother, Melissa, are divorced, so Nathan stays with Ari only on the weekends.

Corona boys coach Pat Smith has known Ari since his days at ASU, and sees the connection he has with his son.

“It’s definitely a strong bond,” Smith said. “I think it’s really nice that they have something like that that they can share, because a lot of parents and kids don’t have that.

“They’re always going to be father and son, but Nathan’s going to go off to college (next year), so I think it’s great that they have this time together.”

Nathan is still undecided about that next step. There’s always a chance he could wind up following his father once more, but he also has options around the country that Ari did not possess in his time.

One thing is for certain. Ari will let Nathan make the decision for himself, just as he has always done — even if some people didn’t always believe it.

“I remember one time he had his friend on the phone,” Ari said. “He asked me, ‘Dad, if I quit running and want to do something else, would you care?’ His friend thought that I would be all mad, but I was like, ‘I’m not the one who’s out there. You get sick of running and you want to do something else, that’s what you got to do. You’re your own person.’ ”

Nathan never quit, and only grew stronger as he advanced through high school. He’ll enter the Nov. 9 state championship meet as the clear favorite in Division I. After waiting his turn behind elite runners like Yuma Cibola’s Bernie Montoya and Tucson Rincon’s Ryan Silva — the only two to finish ahead of him at state last season — he knows his time is now.

“Getting beat by guys like that, it really pushed me,” Nathan said. “I knew that when they were gone, I would have my chance to take that role and try and do the things that they did.

“I wanted that for myself this year. I wanted to be able to experience those things.”

He’ll have his chance. And in two weeks he’ll be out on the course in his Corona orange tank top and running shorts, just like the boy in the photograph 20 years ago.

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